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Christmas is becoming more and more popular in China, but it is more common to see Santa Claus, Christmas trees and people singing «Jingle Bells » in big cities only. In these cities, you will also find Christmas markets with many foreigners selling products. Even though few Chinese really know the history behind this event, it doesn’t stop most of the population to have their own traditions. And due to the similarity in Chinese between “Christmas Eve” and “Apple”, many Chinese people use to exchange apples as gifts for Christmas.

To celebrate the upcoming Chinese New Year, some 6 million Chinese tourists are expected to travel overseas, and Thailand again remains their top travel destination. Experts estimate that Chinese tourists will travel to 172 countries during the 2017 Spring Festival for an average trip of 9.2 days each. Altogether, they will spend a grand total of $14.3 billion (100 billion yuan). Japan also keeps its second position, while the US come in third. After that, most popular destinations for Chinese are all South-East Asian countries due to low costs and geographical proximity, except Australia ranking in 5th position.

The new movie “The Great Wall”, starring the American actor Matt Damon and directed by famous Chinese Zhang Yimou, sold about 462.5 million yuan ($67 million) in tickets in China during its opening last weekend. A film that reaches at least 100 million yuan in ticket sales is considered a hit in China, the world’s largest film market after the U.S.. And “The Great Wall” drew about 123 million yuan on its first day only. Many professionals in the film industry see this news as a proof that pairing a bankable Hollywood actor with a celebrated local director and theme may be a recipe for reviving box-office growth. “

After enduring the smallest budget increase in six years, China’s military is looking to beef itself up with spending set to jump up to $233 billion by 2020. The 2020 Chinese defense budget will signify a 60% increase from this year’s budget of a mere $146 billion, and it will be almost double the $123 billion budget of 2010. The increased budget is partially explained as a response to increasing regional tensions stemming from territorial disputes in the South China Sea that most recently saw the “unlawful seizure” of a US Navy underwater drone and apparent military installations popping up on artificial islands in the sea, in a move that China’s Defense Ministry has cast as arming the “slingshot” against an aggressor “flexing his muscles outside the door.”

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